David Petraeus affair: Spy's wife 'furious' as sex scandal widens

As more details emerge of the affair between former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus and his biographer, sources close to the highly decorated soldier say his family has been devastated by the embarrassing ordeal.

Holly Petraeus, to whom David has been married for 38 years, is “not exactly pleased right now,” said Steve Boylan, a friend and former Petraeus spokesman who spoke to Petraeus over the weekend.

Petraeus began an affair with journalist and former military intelligence analyst Paula Broadwell in 2011, two months after he became CIA director, Boylan said Monday. The case has sparked an uproar in Congress over FBI investigative tactics and complaints by lawmakers they weren’t told soon enough about the probe rocking the intelligence and law enforcement establishment.

Members of Congress said they want to know more details about the FBI investigation that revealed the extramarital affair between Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell. They questioned when the retired general popped up in the FBI inquiry, whether national security was compromised and why they weren’t told sooner.

“We received no advanced notice. It was like a lightning bolt,” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said.

Federal authorities were reportedly tipped off to the affair after Broadwell sent harassing emails to a Florida military employee whose family had apparently been close with the Petraeus family.

A senior U.S. military official identified the second woman as Jill Kelley, 37, who lives in Tampa, Fla., and serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, where the military’s Central Command and Special Operations Command are located.

In a statement Sunday, Kelley and her husband, Scott, said: “We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family’s privacy and want the same for us and our three children.”

The military official who identified Kelley spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation. He said Kelley had received harassing emails from Broadwell, which led the FBI to examine her email account and eventually discover her relationship with Petraeus.

A government official told The New York Post that the e-mails contained such language as: “I know what you did,” “back off” and “stay away from my guy.”

The FBI contacted Petraeus and other intelligence officials, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper asked Petraeus to resign.

A former associate of Petraeus confirmed the target of the emails was Kelley, but said there was no affair between the two, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the retired general’s private life. The associate, who has been in touch with Petraeus since his resignation, said Kelley and her husband were longtime friends of Petraeus and his wife, Holly.

Attempts to reach Kelley were not successful. Broadwell did not return phone calls or emails.

Petraeus, 60, quit Friday after acknowledging the affair. Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.

Boylan said Monday that Petraeus is keenly aware that he has injured his family while losing “one of the best jobs he ever had. He’s devastated.” The affair with Broadwell started about two months after Petraeus took the CIA post, Boylan said. Petraeus became CIA director in September 2011.

Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation last week at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

FBI officials said the congressional committees weren’t informed until Friday, one official said, because the matter started as a criminal investigation into harassing emails allegedly sent by Broadwell to Kelley.

Concerned that emails Petraeus exchanged with Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with him directly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.

Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before congressional committees on Thursday to testify about the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Morell was expected to testify in place of Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions.

But Feinstein and others didn’t rule out the possibility that Congress will compel Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he’s relinquished his job.

As details of the CIA’s role in Benghazi continue to trickle out, Petraeus’s potential testimony could be under even harsher scrutiny.

Fox News is reporting that Libyan militia members — and possibly terror suspects from elsewhere in the Middle East and Africa — were being held by the CIA in the Agency’s Benghazi annex. Their imprisonment, the report suggests, may have been the cause for the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack that claimed the life of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

The report comes on the heels of suggestions that Broadwell may have been privy to classified documents. In an October 26, 2012 speech at the University of Denver, Broadwell specifically mentioned the CIA annex in Benghazi had been used to hold Libyan militiamen captive.

The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake suggests, however, that Broadwell’s statements may have been due to a misreading of an earlier Fox News report regarding three Libyans who had been briefly held at the annex after the Sept. 11 attack before being turned over to a local militia.

The CIA has denied any allegations that it was holding any prisoners at the Benghazi annex.